


Coming Home

by zinjadu



Category: Robin Hood (BBC 2006)
Genre: Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-27
Updated: 2012-06-27
Packaged: 2017-11-08 16:11:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/445014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zinjadu/pseuds/zinjadu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Allan-a-Dale comes home.   Set after 2x12, written a while ago, rehosting here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Home

The first week on the ship had been tense. Djaq felt torn, part of her wanting to go to Allan and beat some sense into him, another part of her wanting him to come to them first. Instead he skulked around like a beaten dog, never sure when or where to jump or how high. It was pathetic.

Her mouth set in a hard line, Djaq strode up to this traitor, this man who had charmed them all—and her, because she was hardly made of stone—with his easy smile and clever mind, and was now dim and tarnished. He started at her appearance, eyes wide for a moment before retreating back in on himself. So unlike him, to keep it all tucked away from the world. Allan might have been a compulsive liar, but he was never closed off. She wanted to hit him right then for that, for being so stupid, for forgetting himself, but she knew that would accomplish little.

“We need to talk, Allan,” she said, not reaching out to him, but not walling herself off either.

He slouched further against the forecastle. “’Bout what? I’m not being funny, but there isn’t much to talk about. Made your choice, like I made mine. Don’t say I blame you for it. He’s a good lad,” he said, catching her eye and directing her sight on Will, who was farther down the deck, making something as per usual.

“I did make a choice, yes, but that is not what I wished to speak with you about, Allan.”

“Then what?” He didn’t even look at her, and she wanted to scream at him. Where had her Allan gone? Was he gone? Did he die in that castle, and this shell was all that was left? She refused to believe that.

“About forgiveness.” She did reach out then, her hand lightly touching his arm, a simple gesture, and hopefully a point made.

“I’m listening,” he sighed. Still stubborn. Still refusing to forgive himself.

“I forgave you the second I knew, Allan.” She turned his face to her, making him look at her as she spoke the truth. “I never hated you. I could never hate you. And it’s not because I’m a woman, Allan. You know that. I have seen what the inability to forgive does, and I will not turn my heart into a scarred place like my home.”

“Maybe that works for you, but what about them?” he asked in a fierce whisper, tense and near tears. “What about them, huh? I’m not one of the lads anymore, Djaq. I’m convenient.”

“No,” she bit out and slapped him. Hard. He winced, but didn’t move. “You are not convenient. You are not here, with us, because its easy. You’re here because we want you to be here. We want you with us.”

He quirked an eyebrow and nearly rolled his eyes.

“They just don’t understand that, yet. You’re all men,” she sniffed dismissively. “You’re hardly observant as regards to your own feelings.”

“Said the pot to the kettle,” Allan teased, the corner of his mouth curling upwards in a smirk. Djaq was suddenly, uncomfortably reminded of how… interesting Allan could be, and also that she was with Will now. Damn his face.

He took a deep breath and refocused. “You think they’ll really forgive me? Really? I mean, Will kind of did. Kind of. When the Prince’s men were coming to burn everything to the ground. Said I wasn’t all bad. I guess if I’ve got you and Will forgiving me already, that’s… well,” he trailed off and shrugged.

“You must also forgive yourself, Allan,” Djaq said softly, touching her hand to his face where she had slapped him earlier, in spite of herself.

He scoffed, looking away. Still he refused to see what she already had; he was a good man, in spite of everything he’d done wrong, he was still good.

“Good men, Allan, do not always walk the path of righteousness. What marks a good man is that he can resume the path should he ever wander from it, which,” she emphasized her point by once again turning his face to her, “is something you have done. That is not something you can argue.”

Djaq withdrew, her hand slipping from his cheek, and she took a full step backwards, almost leaving him over extended. He quickly recovered and slouched once more against the wall.

“The choice is yours, Allan. It always has been. You won’t be turned away,” Djaq said, and then left. Allan watched her as she walked across the deck to Will, putting an arm about the young man’s shoulders and speaking to him softly. Will looked up and over at Allan. Allan held the lad’s gaze for a moment before looking away.

There was only so much a man could do in one day.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

“So,” Will started, not quite sure what to do or say. Djaq had told he had to make peace with Allan. There had been a peace of sorts, but he’d never been sure if it’d stick. Or if Allan would ever change. The idea that someone could change and change back was dubious at best. At least he knew where he stood with the Sheriff and Gisborne; he didn’t know where he stood with Allan.

“So,” Allan echoed. This was more than a little awkward. They’d been mates, buddies, in friendly competition for the girl, but how could he repair something like this? When he wasn’t even sure if Will was going to kill him or not. Good lad, but more than a little ready to kill if provoked. That made Allan nervous.

“Help me with the ropes. We’ve got to get them stored properly before night falls,” Will said, handing Allan a length of rope without explaining what do to. Allan watched as Will began to carefully roll up the rope. Allan followed suit. After about a minute of silence, Allan couldn’t stand it.

“I’m sorry, alright? I can say it a thousand times, but it’d never be enough, and I get that, but I’m back, alight? I’m with you again. I won’t make that mistake again. Never make the same one twice at least. That’s something, right?” he finished lamely, a nervous little laugh escaping him.

Will rolled up some more rope in complete silence.

“Come on, say something, Will. Don’t leave me rambling on like this, cause I’ll keep talking. You know I will, and then I’ll say something stupid and you’ll put an axe in my back. Not that I don’t kind of deserve that, but you haven’t done it yet, so I’m hoping you won’t do it now—

“Shut up, Allan.” Will shook his head and smiled. He couldn’t help it. Allan could charm birds out their trees and badgers out of their dens. “Just help me with the rope, will ya? Dinner’s soon and I don’t want to eat it cold.”

Allan grinned in return. “Alright.”

They finished in silence.

“So,” Allan said as they were walking along the deck to where dinner was being served. “We’re mates again?”

Will nodded. “Yeah, we are.”

Allan smiled and slung an arm around Will’s shoulders. “Alright. Good. I’d hate to loose my best mate.”

And it was so easy, to slip back into how it used to be, and for a moment they both forgot how awkward this was all supposed to be, how strained it should be, and they both decided that it didn’t have to be awkward to strained. What happened had happened, and what was happening now was more important anyway.

Will broke away from Allan and punched the other man on the shoulder, before putting his own arm around the other man’s shoulders. “Me too,” he agreed.

Will knew there would still be awkward moments, points where he would remember how angry and betrayed and hurt he had been when Allan’s treachery had been revealed, but then he’d remember that Allan had done the right thing in the end. And maybe that was what mattered most. Not how many mistakes you made, but that you always fixed them afterwards.

Allan, for his part, was just happy to have his two best friends back.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Will stared at the ceiling, listing to Djaq’s even breathing beside him. Robin had shunted them into the one passenger cabin on this ship with a grin and a wink, ushering the rest of the lads to the hummocks below decks. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the gesture, but it was strange to be listening only to Djaq’s breathing. He was used to the sounds of everyone all around, sleeping lightly, and the other sounds of the forest. The sounds were all wrong here, the creak of the timbers, the spray of the ocean. And only one other person sleeping near him.

There had also been the look on Allan’s face when Will had first put his hand on Djaq’s back. Like he’d been betrayed.

“Will,” Djaq said, interrupting his odd turn of thought. “Go to sleep.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Didn’t mean to keep you up.”

She sighed and sat up, looking down at him where he lay. “What’s wrong, Will?”

“I dunno, really,” he evaded, making a face. “I guess I’m just not used to sleeping with only one person around. Its like it’s too quiet.”

Her hand smoothed his hair away from his forehead, and traced a path down his cheek. “That’s hardly it, Will. Talk to me, you silly Englishman.”

He shifted uncomfortably, but took her hand in his, gripping tight. Their relationship was still new, still untested, and he didn’t know how solid. They were hardly Robin and Marian, clearly destined to be and all that. They were just two people who were going to muddle through. Or at least try.

“If Allan hadn’t turned traitor, would you’ve picked him over me?” he asked at last.

Without missing a beat, Djaq answered, “In all honesty, I would have been unable to choose.”

That had not been the answer he had wanted to hear.

“But,” she continued, “Would you have wanted me to choose? What would have happened to your friendship?”

“Dunno. I guess we would’ve been alright. We’re blokes.”

“That means nothing in this,” Djaq said with a roll of her eyes. She lowered herself back to the bed, touching her forehead to his and speaking softly. “What I think you’re missing, Will, is that I wouldn’t have taken one of you over the other. That doesn’t mean I would have disregarded both of you.”

Will worked through that sentence, turning it over, and came to a very, very uncomfortable conclusion. “You would’ve had us both. Like… like a harem?”

“Pfft, hardly a harem. Listen to me Will. Really listen.” She kissed him, softly and sure. “I love you. And I think I loved him as well, and I don’t think I ever stopped, but that does not mean I love you any less or want to be with you any less. Do you understand that?”

He nodded, a little overwhelmed. Djaq was fairly blunt and forthright, but she was talking about things that honestly scared him a little.

“Now, I think you love him as well. Brothers in arms, the two of you. Before I came along, you were close. After I was part of the gang, you two were still close. That is why his leaving hurt you so badly, that is why you hated him so much. Because you loved him so much, Will. It’s always worse when someone who you love disappoints you. Believe me, I know.”

Will’s expression turned sour. Djaq kept speaking incredibly uncomfortable truths, part of why he loved her really, but this was hitting too close to home. Allan had been a disappointment, like the other man had taken Will’s heart and spat on it. Cause their friendship didn’t mean as much as some silver.

“And I think,” Djaq went on, holding Will’s hand tight, “That he loves us as well. He’s just afraid. Like a dog that’s been beaten, he’s too scared to believe that someone could ever want him.”

For long moments neither of them said anything. Will ran Djaq’s words through his mind over and over again, not finding fault with her reasoning. She spoke true. He squeezed her hand, reassuring himself that she was here with him. At least right now.

“So,” he said eventually, his voice cracking only slightly. “You want to have us both, then? Switching off.”

Djaq gave a frustrated little sigh, her forehead falling in defeat against his chest. “You weren’t listening, Will.”

“Then what was I supposed to hear?” he protested, confused. He snaked his arm around her waist and held her close. She looked up and held his gaze.

“I want us to be a family, Will. All three of us. Like we should have been from the start. All three of us. Together.”

Will blinked. Then his eyes widened and his expression went from puzzled discomfort to shocked realization. “Oh, you mean… Really? Do, uh. That really happens?”

“I was a battlefield medic; I have seen old, grizzled men share tents. Yes. It happens.” She humored him with a little smile and a kiss. So innocent still, for someone who had seen so much tragedy. It was endearing the way things could still surprise him.

“Then, uh,” he swallowed heavily, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “How’s that work?”

“Ah,” Djaq grinned. “So you’re curious, then.”

“As a,” he coughed, “curiosity, sure.”

“Of course,” she said. Then told him.

The expressions on his face the next day were priceless. Especially when Allan bent over to pick up something.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Two weeks into the journey, Allan knocked on their door.

That had been faster than Djaq thought he’d manage it, but she nodded as Will opened the door to let the other man in.

“Hey,” Allan said.

“Hey,” Will returned.

“So, we’ve got all that forgiveness out of the way, right?” Allan joked, his normal smirk on his face.

“I would say so, yes,” Djaq answered cautiously. There was something odd about this, but she could not quite put her finger on it. She motioned for Will to sit beside her on the bed, and he did. Allan stayed standing, rocking back on his heels.

“You’ve forgiven me, and now its time I explained myself. Robin knows why I did it, but it doesn’t matter much to him, and it’s more important you two know why, I guess. Don’t want any questions hanging around. Clean slate and all.” He took a deep breath and started, Djaq and Will both watching him with curious eyes.

“I did it cause when all this is over, when all this is done, we’re gonna have nothing. Robin’s got Loxley. Much has Bonchurch. Little John. Well, he’d be alright. He’s a survivor, that one. Me? I need money. I don’t have a home, I don’t have a family, so all I had was me. I just wanted something to put aside for later.”

“Robin would’ve taken care of us,” Will interrupted. “He wouldn’t have let us starve.”

“Will,” Djaq admonished.

“That’s just it. I didn’t want to live off charity. Robin woulda been oh so gracious, and we would’ve been oh so grateful, wouldn’t we? But that’s just it. I didn’t want him providing for me, I didn’t want him providing for you. I wanted to do it.

“Be a real man, a stand up man, for once in my life. Like no one else in my own family could be.”

“What?” Now it was Djaq’s turn to interrupt, and the difference is that no one would stop her. “You thought that by helping Gisborne, you would be able to provide for me?”

“Not just you! The both of you!” Allan exclaimed. He did pace then, the words coming to him too fast. He knelt down in front of her and took her hands in his. “You would have a proper lab to do all your alchemy.” Then he gripped Will’s knee. “And you would’ve had a proper work shop. Think of that, eh? No start up cost, no loans, no nothing. Just the freedom to do what you love.”

“Oh, Allan,” Djaq sighed. “You are an idiot.” And she laughed.

“Hey! A man just told you he sold himself so you could be free, and you laugh! If I knew I was gonna get that kind of treatment, I’d’ve just passed on by your door.”

Will couldn’t help himself either and began to snicker.

“Well, if that’s how you want it, fine. Not sure if that’s better than you hating me or not.” He took the few steps to the door quickly, but before he could turn the handle, Djaq spoke.

“Allan, wait.” He turned around, leaning against the door, watching them both warily.

“I’m waiting.”

“Come here,” she commanded, and he did in spite of himself. She took his face in her hands, her thumbs brushing gently across his cheeks. He looked confused, one eyebrow raised and looking back and forth between Will and Djaq like a rabbit ready to bolt. Then she kissed him. Not one the forehead, like a sister would, but full on the lips like a… lover.

After a few moments of enjoying himself, he broke away. “Not that I’m not flattered, Djaq, but it might have escaped your notice that Will is right there,” he said, looking directly at the other man.

Who didn’t look like wanted to kill Allan at all, which is how Allan would have expected Will to look in a situation like this.

His confusion only grew, and his suspicion went haywire as Djaq and Will shared a smile. A naughty smile. Allan didn’t know Will could make that kind of face. Djaq he’d expected, but young Will?

And then he had little time for thought because Will was kissing him. Not like Djaq had, not all gentle like, but hard and fast, like he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to be doing this. But he didn’t stop. Allan, not to be outdone, pushed back. They broke apart, out of breath and bruised about the mouth.

“Alright, that’s weird. What’s gone on with you two?” Allan demanded. He did not move away, but he held himself back a little.

“We want you to come home, Allan,” Djaq said, her hand cupping his face once more. “We want you to know that you do have someone. You have us. And we don’t need shops, or money, or anything fancy. We just need you, here, with us.”

Allan shook his head. “I don’t understand,” he said, sounding more than lost.

Will reached up and ran his hand through Allan’s hair, settling at the back of his neck. “Come home, Allan. Please,” Will said, tugging a little on the last word. “We love you.”

Allan’s jaw dropped, his eyes went wide, and he knelt before them, stunned.

“I love you, Allan,” Djaq said.

“I love you, Allan,” Will echoed, but sheepishly.

Allan tried to speak, but for the first time in his memory, he was speechless. Eventually he found words. They weren’t his usual standard. They were like everything he’d said since coming back to the gang, though. They were honest.

“I love you, Djaq. I love you, Will. Damn me, but I love you both.” He grinned and laughed and for the first time in what felt like forever he was happy. He was home.

He cursed himself thrice the fool for ever leaving.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Down in the crew space, Much noticed something odd. “Master, Allan’s not here,” he exclaimed, a note of alarm creeping into his voice.

“We’re on a ship, Much. There are only so many places he could be,” Robin said, turning over and once more closing his eyes in the hope of sleep.

“Well, where do you suppose he could be?”

Robin sighed. “I’ll tell you when you’re older, Much. Now go to sleep. I’ve got the feeling that Allan’s not getting into any trouble.”

“What’s that mean, Master? Why do you think that? Come on, now. What’s going on?” Much insisted. 

“Go. To. Sleep, Much. Please,” Robin said, but it was hardly a request.

“Fine, I shall sleep, though I would be much happier were I to know were that traitorous turncoat is.”

Robin only smiled, glad that the darkness concealed that from his old friend. Some things, Much never caught on to.


End file.
